Astros’ Bregman, Altuve Apologize For Sign-Stealing Scheme

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBSDFW.COM/AP) – Houston Astros players Alex Bregman and José Altuve said Thursday the team is sorry for its sign-stealing scheme that was investigated and punished by Major League Baseball.

“I am really sorry,” Bregman said.

“I want to say that the whole Astros organization and the team feels bad about what happened in 2017,” Altuve said. “We feel remorse for the impact on our fans and the game of baseball.”

Astros owner Jim Crane and new manager Dusty Baker — who replaced the fired AJ Hinch — also spoke at a news conference at the team’s spring training facility.

“We cannot take back what happened,” Crane said.

“Our opinion is this didn’t impact the game,” Crane added. “We had a good team. We won the World Series and we’ll leave it at that.”

MLB did not punish any players for the cheating and Crane said he stood by that.

“We’re not going to do anything to the players,” the owner said.

Crane was asked if the sign stealing gave any of the Astros players an advantage. “It could possibly do that. It could possibly not,” Crane said before the end of the press conference.

Altuve said there was a full team meeting Wednesday to discuss what happened.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred disciplined the Astros after he found the team broke rules by using electronics to steal signs during its run to the 2017 World Series championship and again in the 2018 season.

The Astros were fined $5 million, the maximum allowed under major league rulesion, and forfeited their next two first- and second-round amateur draft picks.

The investigation found that the Astros used the video feed from a center field camera to view and decode opposing catcher’s signs. Players banged on a trash can to signal to batters what was coming, believing it would improve chances of getting a hit.